Profile of Zapartos

I'm really loving the pre-alpha. I'm an old man of 38 and an addict of the franchise. I started as Coh1 player with ~1000 hours in game. I've recently gotten into Coh2 as well. I play only multiplayer component of the game, mainly 1v1 and the occasional 2v2.

So far I'm really enjoying the new directions . I'm especially excited with how the factions play, Seems that all factions get the basic tools eg. non doc mines. And the new direction in faction asymmetry.

What I love about the Coh franchise above titles such as Starcraft/Warcraft, what really sets it apart is the Tactical map. As a mediocre player and someone with low APM, some of my favourite game moments were pulling off awesome flanks with BAR'ed up US riflemen and forcing the MG retreat . Pulling moves like that with tactical map is what made me addicted to the game.

I think that Relic really hit a home run with the tactical map. It is a real point of difference compared with other RTS games and it makes the game more satisfying for me to play as a mediocre player because I can still pull off some awesome plays while not having the APM of an RTS god.

I think that if they can iterate and make it more functional it would make the game even more satisfying and bring in and retrain players like me who are not APM wizards.

So with that in mind this is my feedback/requests Tactical map in Coh3. I have ordered them in priority for what I would most value.

Tier 1

• Functionality to Reinforce
  

Tier 2

Engineers can:

• Repair vehicles/tanks
  
• Lay mines
  

• Being able to use Commander abilities on the tactical map- eg. ability to call in smoke/planes/unit call ins.
  
• Ability to select units in ambient buildings to retreat them.
  

Tier 3

• Resource counter
  
• Game Timer
  

(So we know when to expect opponent's next power spike and be able to prepare)


Now there may be some who argue that the tactical map should not have increased functionality because it might take away from the micro and adversely impact the competitive scene.

I would argue that the core idea of the Coh franchise and what differentiates it from other RTS games like Starcraft was its emphasise on tactics and positioning over "busy work" and micro.

eg.

• Resources not tied to workers/harvesting and instead tied directly to territory that you fought over.
  
• The inclusion of a Tactical map in the first place - why else but to reduce micro?
  

Would welcome Tactical map suggestions/discussions.

Hi Everyone,

Great points for a good discussion. I think Forward Retreat Point would be an interesting idea, maybe at Vet 2 or something like that.

@ Vipper
Thanks for putting forward your analysis. Interesting points you bring up.

Here's my take:
Commissar healing vs Medkits are different abilities and to analyse it deeply we need to consider not just "factual spreadsheet numbers" but also faction design and "Ingame/On the battlefield" in context

I think "on the field" context may be one aspect that you may have neglected to consider when analysing these two abilities.

Let me give you an example:

Yes Commissar heal comes at Vet 0 (Factual spreadsheet number)

But consider the in game context. The Gren medkits heal will be accessible mostly likely earlier than when Commissar becomes available.

Commissar comes at CP2 which is approx 5-6 minutes? OST would have at least 1 or 2 Grens at Vet 1 by then.
("Ingame/On the battlefield" in context)

Commissar heal is AOE and yes it likely requires less micro. However this works against the Soviet faction design as the range is 10 and the heal duration takes 30 sec.

The disadvantage for the Soviet faction is that to receive the full benefit of the heal, all units need to stay within 10 range of the Commissar.
This is detrimental to the Soviet way of pressuring, capping and mining. If they stop to do this it will hurt their aggressive game.

This ability btw is the same as the UKF "Distribute Medical Supplies"
It works for UKF because they are like OST a more defensive orientated faction.

Let me put it another way. Take the OKW Sturmpios their 45 muni x3 Medical Supplies healing ability that drops the medkit and any unit in range gets the heal and then they can get back on the field to cap and pressure (This is a perfect ability for the OKW being the more aggressive faction compared to OST).

Now imagine that this x3 medkit ability was switched for the Commissar/UKF ability. No more dropped medkits all the OKW units have to hug the Sturmpio squad and if they leave to go cap another area of the map they lose the heal. It would be detrimental to the way OKW plays because the healing units all have to blob up and not have the flexibility to pressure different areas of the map. I'd argue this would make OKW weaker.

This is why Commissar heal is not a good fit for the Soviet faction.
If they got the OKW one instead (perhaps just 1 medkit for 20 muni or something it would make much more sense and synergise with the way they play rather than be a detriment to it)

Your other point re Medkits costing 10 muni.
Yes they do have a cost but honestly I'd much rather pay muni cost for a heal that works for the Soviet faction than a free one that I may use once every 10 games.
(An ability that is not used is just a dead ability)

Also the last point about the duration of the ability:
Gren medkits last 20 sec
Commissar/UKF lasts 30 sec
It is much better to have a shorter duration (higher rate of heal)
(https://www.coh2.org/guides/88945/the-coh2-ability-guide-mark-2-0)


Your second last point:
"If you are using conscripts aggressively you probably better of not bothering with commissar at all and getting base heal instead."

I don't really understand what you mean by this. How else do you use conscripts if not aggressively? Again going back to faction design, if Soviets don't pressure in the early game OST and OKW will tech to late game and crush them with their T4 units.

In conclusion:
My point is that faction design and "on the battlefield" context should be an integral part of any analysis of any unit/ability not just "factual spreadsheet numbers". Or else you'll be missing a significant part of the picture.

Which is important given that COH2 is a game built around soft counters, directional cover and rear armour. Context is an integral part of the game. It doesn't matter if the DPS "factual spreadsheet number" of my MG is higher than your infantry unit in it's fire arc. If that MG gets flanked by said infantry unit, MG loses. ("Ingame/On the battlefield" context)

Thanks for reading this huge post!
https://www.coh2.org/post/update/post_id/868704#

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I do agree officers aren’t frontline units. However it doesn’t make sense to me the inconsistency for received accuracy buffs between factions.

OST and USF officers do have received accuracy buffs at
Vet 2. Do you consider them overturned/overpowered?

Also I think the commissar heal ability is not very useful (this is from a 1v1 perspective)
Because:
1) Soviet troops tend to drop more models due to relatively higher received accuracy (to make up for their larger squad sizes) so you tend to have to retreat to reinforce anyway.

2) It’s one of the worst heals in the game taking 30sec to heal all (Ost Med kits heal in 20secs) and you have to be within in range 10 of the commissar to receive the heals and it stops if you go outside that range.

So probably the only time you use the heal is if you’ve completely forced the opposition to retreat which is pretty rare and even if that happens you can’t cap the map because you have to blob up to receive the heals.


If it was changed to a dropped Med pack like the OKW stormpio one it would be much better for 15 munitions

Honestly though I’d much rather the Commissar have a smoke grenade with cool down tied to his normal grenade than the very niche/borderline useless heal it has currently.

Fair enough that makes sense, thanks for explaining it to me guys!

A few people have pointed out that 55 range makes a big difference. Is this mostly in team games? Because in 1v1 which I play, the 55 range doesn't seem to make much difference at all.